Hi all-
Earlier this week, I switched over to using DA as my main browser. The transition from Safari hasn’t been completely seamless, but I hadn’t expected it would.
I could post some of my observations, but I’m curious whether anyone else has done/ is doing the same thing? Any hints or tips to make life great?
Best, Charles
I’m (of course 
) using DEVONagent as my main browser. The most important issues for many users are probably…
no bookmark manager, the bookmarks of a “host browser” are used (no issue for me as my bookmarks are my favorites and edited only once or twice a year - everything else is stored in DEVONthink or temporary workspaces)
no autofill (again no issue for me as I can easily remember the few passwords I need)
I’ve created a workspace “Daily” containing all the websites I check regularly, e.g. because they don’t have have feeds or only poor ones, and open this workspace simply via Cmd-0.
I also try to switch from Safari to DevonAgent, more and more.
One of my main concerns were the bookmark-thing. But meanwhile I think this will no prolm in the long run, because I will use DTPO as bookmark repository.
The automatic fill in I think is not so problematic, for passwords I use 1password.
One thing is a little bit annoying.
In my old workflow it often happens that i have to search for something fast, just to look, wether my information is correct.
In Safari I type the word in the google search field, wow, its there. Or I highlight the word and choose “search in Googel”. This is very fast, for a short look.
With Devonagent there are also two possibillities, which are similiar, but not so fast:
I type “google” and the word I search in the address-field. That´s okay, but t otype “google” is a little bit annoying.
I highlight the word I search for and choose " search with Devonagent" in the contextual menue, than the DA-search-“machine” opens and than I have to press search, and even with the fast scan it ist no so fast like in google.
So, it would be nice to have something like “search Google in the DA Browser” or so.
But, perhaps I just have to learn a new workflow and habituat to it.
by the way: concerning 1Password.
It works fine with DA, but when I switch to fullscreen mode the 1Password button (which is 1P) is shown in the fullscreen. A button in the picture.
I would add a screenshot, but I don´t now how to add it to a post.
I used it for a while but switched back to Safari almost full-time because:
No google searchbar in DA
No inline searching (i.e., just start typing a word and it finds it)
Bookmarks, although Christian alluded to this above already
What I did love about DA, though, was the seamless integration with DT. Loved the ability to just import a pdf directly to DT.
Have not regretted purchasing DA in the slightest as I still use it for deep searches every now and then. It’s just not my day-to-day browser (for now). I have no doubt the next version will address these and other issues.
David
I’ve had similar experiences with DA. It’s not a bad browser but the usability and feature set are definitely not up to the standards of current SW such as Firefox and Safari.
Save one or two instances, I’ve actually not found a single item that I couldn’t find, and find more quickly, with a Google search. Perhaps I need to hit the tutorials again. 
Started using Devonagent & Devonthink Pro a couple of weeks ago and I am loving it! The idea of Devonagent as the main browser is very attractive to me and I have today set it up to be my main browser. One question, however, is there any way that the browser window can be set to open on startup? I have set my preferences so Devonagent & Devonthink open on startup but it would be great if my homepage would also open.
Thanks for any help.
Sure. DA Preferences > General - Startup: Check “Open browsers that were open on quit”.
I’ve got a browser window with several favorite sites set to load in tabs.
Thanks Bill, that does it fine. 
Can’t agree more. I don’t regret buying DevonAgent at all, but most of my searches are very quick, and a new Google window in Safari is ideal for those. I could never find the capability in DA that would duplicate that fast functionality, as well as provide a shorthand menu of possible searches from which I could choose based on the character string I had already entered. That kind of usability is habit-forming, such that I rarely think of using DA unless I need deep scan, high-power search capabilities across multiple search engines.
Besides, in the heat of battle during a typical business day, speed is often much more important to me than depth or accuracy of search results. I can get a rhythm going in my workflow, and can’t I afford to get distracted or bogged down when all I need is a quick answer or two.
If DA’s usability could be better “built for speed” I would certainly use DA a LOT more than I do now.
@redacted
I agree, you descrieb, eventually, what the problem is: the speed of such searches, that I also do a lot. The Safari way is faster. Would be nice, when such fast searches would also be possible.
What I want n the end is Safari with all the possibillities of Deep Scan etc. of DA.
I’ve got (courtesy of Christian Grunenberg’s suggestion in this thread) a Google workspace setup: if I want to use Google’s Advanced Search, I simply type command-0, and bang it’s there. You could set it up with the main Google page if you wanted their “search suggestions.”
It doesn’t break my flow, but maybe I’m not as fast as you.
Best, Charles
Good point, Charles, the workspaces thing plus shortcut. I didn´t consider the shortcut which make it much faster.
Thanks
Although one thing to watch out for is that a workspace will replace your current work, AFAIK. So you can have windows disappearing.
I also rearranged my Safari bookmarks to place the Google stuff very prominently on DEVONagent’s “Go” menu.
And of course there’s always Quickey$…
Best, Charles
yes, but thats´s easy: open a new window/tab cmd+n/t, than cmd+0 google is there.
I don’t use DevonAgent as my main browser; rather I use 3.1b and Firefox 4. Both seem much faster to me, but I rely heavily on the advance search capabilities of DA for much of my intensive research.